Pointblank Times, November 1975 - Page 1. November 1975. Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries. University of Houston Digital Library. Web. March 31, 2015. http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/feminist/item/59/show/47.

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index.cpd

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Item Description

Title

Page 1

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femin_201109_412a.jpg

Transcript

pointblank times
a lesbian/feminist publication Vol. I No. 8 November, 1975
Houston, Texas
05 4
Fred
News
On October 1st, a meeting
at the Metropolitan Community
the Resurrection between Mayor
Hofheinz and approximately 30
tatives of various Houston gay
zations. Those organizations
were: Gay Activist Alliance,
tical Caucus, Dignity, Integri
Sexuality and Lesbianism Task
NOW, MCC, gay businesspersons
owners and members of the loca
press.
Commentary
was held If ten years ago, a canuiaate for
Church of mayor of Houston had met with represen-
Fred tatives of the black community and asked
represen- for their endorsement by pledging his
organi- general support but no support on speci-
represented fie issues such as discrimination in
Gay Poli- housing, he would have been booed or
ty/Houston, laughed right out of the meeting place.
Force of Why, then, was Fred Hofheinz allowed to
and bar do exactly this in his meeting with repre-
1 gay sentatives of the gay community two weeks
ago and greeted with a standing ovation?
Hofheinz, in his opening remarks,
stated that his administration has
attempted to create a freer atmosphere
for discussion of gay issues before
city council. "My dealings with the
prejudices against women and minorities
have been well publicized. Not as well
publicized have been our dealings with
the prejudices against gays. The institutional resistance against gays is
greater than against minorites. However, there is a lot that can be done
administratively. My administration
is interested in experimenting with new
ideas on the matter."
Questions from the audience
mainly dealt with police brutality
and harassment of gays. Hofheinz,
in response to these statements,
said, "The attitude of the mayor
cannot control the attitude of a
large number of city employees
(police officers). The problem is supervision. Under Herman Short there was one
45 police officers. My
has lowered that ratio
supervisor per
administration
to one per 15.
Rev. Falls of the MCC responded
to this issue by offering a challenge
to the police department to a game of
softball. "This is an effort to create
I think that the answer to this question is to be found in the introductory
remarks made by Rev. Falls of the Metropolitan Community Church when he described
the meeting as a "privilege". From my
observations, this remark was representative of the general attitude of the majority of the audience. This is the only
reason I can find for such an audience
to be so grateful after having been offered so little.
To begin with let's set the record
straight. As citizens of Houston, the
meeting with the mayor was not a "privilege"
but a right. This point is more
than a matter of semantics; it is
crucial to the gay movement in
Houston, in particular to the potential of the Gay Political Caucus.
I believe that we are not asking
for favors or privileges, instead,
we are demanding our rights. Because they are rights and not favors, we
are entitled to them, and do not have to
be grateful when a "practical" politician
shows some meager sign of support. If
this sounds familiar, it is because Black
and Chicano citizens of this country have
been saying this for some time.
What I heard Mayor Hofheinz say (but
that he never spoke) was that he didn't
continued on page 2
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